


Conflicting Sides

by Lalalaloo



Series: Dream SMP Oneshots [4]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Angst, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Blood, Blood and Injury, Branding, Character Death, Child Abuse, Child Death, Child Murder, Child Neglect, Dark, Experimentation, Fluff, Ghosts, Human Experimentation, Human Trafficking, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Hybrid Experimentation, Hybrids, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Murder, Injury, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Child Abuse, Slavery, animal experimentation, like alot of it, memory problems, not beta read we blow up like L'manberg, theres moments where its fluffy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 17:22:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28692390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lalalaloo/pseuds/Lalalaloo
Summary: Ranboo couldn't remember a lot about his past, it was mainly just lots of darkness or blinding white lights. Cold metals prodding his skin and a comforting warmth wrapping around him when he cried. He could remember ghosts of an embrace of someone important but he could never remember more than that.Otherwise known as the Ranboo backstory nobody asked for.
Relationships: Clay | Dream & Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Ranboo & Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF) & Original Character(s)
Series: Dream SMP Oneshots [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2051529
Comments: 9
Kudos: 83





	Conflicting Sides

**Author's Note:**

> *slides in with a smoothie* Hey this fic is going to be dark, like real dark and is going to be going into pretty dark topics so if you don't like things I mention as a warning in the notes please don't read and just click off this fic entirely thank you!
> 
> Warnings: Kidnapping, Implied Child Abuse, Referenced Human Experiments, Hybrid Experiments, Implied Child Labour, Human Trafficking and Implied Non Consensual Drug Use.  
> If you are uncomfortable with any of the things I have warned you off please click off this book now.

_These Cold Walls_

When Ranboo was seven his life changed forever.

It began with an explosion, so bright in the silent night, lighting up Ranboo’s small world with sunset hues and debris falling from the heavens. And then the men came, wearing crisp grey suites, snatching his frail frame from his mother’s weak embrace.

That was the last he had seen of the outside world, taking him from the light of the outside world down below, into the sterile corridors of the underground fortress where he now lived.

He wasn’t the only one here though, many others lived in the underground, ranging from as young as new-born babies to a few young adults. They all were unique in their own ways, one boy with short coffee coloured hair had hands that were stained a tar black at the tips, another was a girl with eyes the colour of a roaring fire, and then there was several children with various animal hybrid traits.

They all had empty looks in their eyes, many bandaged in various places and markings clearly etched onto their skin.

This was Ranboo’s new home.

* * *

A shrill alarm pierced through the silent morning. Children groaned and whined at the sound, reluctantly getting out from under the thin sheets of their cots that they slept on.

“Hey Ranboo.” A cheerful voice came from behind the ten year old, a finger poking his cheek playfully “time to get up sleepyhead I don’t want to get scolded by Mama.”

Ranboo turned over to see the bright green eyes glowing (he could swear that they were glowing) staring back at Ranboo. Michael shifting impatiently from side to side, whining for the younger boy to get up.

“Fine I’m up, you can stop poking me now Mike.”

Michael whooped, twirling around on his feet whilst grabbing his white uniform from a discarded pile on the floor. Ranboo grabbed his jacket on over his pyjamas and running out of the door of his shared room, chasing his dark-haired friend down the spotless corridor, illuminated by harsh white lights.

It had been 3 years since he has been brought to the Underground, three years since he had seen the surface for more then a few fleeting moments before being led even deeper into the Underground where they put him through various tests. He shivered at the thought of those cold rooms, where all he could see was the cold stone ceiling for hours on end whilst the inspected him like he was an animal.

Michael abruptly stopped in the middle of the chase, causing Ranboo to slam into the thirteen year old.

“What are you two doing running around the halls like headless chickens.” A stern voice bounced of the walls. Mama. Ranboo hated her she was always so stern and mean to him and the other kids, she even hit Michael and a few other kids if she got angry. Like really angry.

“Well, we weren’t running around like headless chickens ‘cause that would mean that chickens could live after having their head amputated which would defy all laws of nature.” Michael shrugged, looking anywhere apart from the woman in front of him.

A sharp slap rang out from the corridor in front of him, Michael clutching his cheek as he looked at Mama, his eyes wide as he shrunk onto himself slightly.

“Do not talk back to me you brat.” She turned around, her heels clacking on the stone flooring as she walked away from the two children.

Michael turned around to face his younger friend “C’mon let’s go Ranboo, don’t wanna miss breakfast.”

They walked the rest of the way in relative silence, greeting some of the other children on the way to the cafeteria.

When they entered the cafeteria, they were greeted by a mess of red curls, grabbing the two boys into a side hug where she whispered, “where the fuck were you two all the food is almost gone.”

Michael laughed at the girl’s antics, shoving her arm off from his shoulder, “Well that’s not my fault you decided to not use your brain for once Kace and get into the stupid line.”

Kace huffed in annoyance, backhanding the older boys head and muttering about how he was lucky he was such a pretty princess otherwise she would have sent him to the Nether already. Ranboo chuckled at his friend’s antics. He was glad he had met the two older children, who had taken to him instantly when he had first been shoved down into the Underground.

Kace had been born into the Underground, the facility being the only place she had ever called home, and had lived there her whole life, born to be a worker for the rest of her life. She had never been to the Surface as well, often asking the two boys to describe to her what it looked like. She was also one of the only humans in the whole facility, aside from Mama and the scientists, and had never met her parents before, all she knew about them was that they had worked her as unpaid workers and had supposedly died when she was incredibly young according to what Mama had told her.

Michael on the other hand had been brought to the facility when he was nine, just a few months before Ranboo had come, and that he had a family outside of the Underground’s walls that he barely remembers but misses greatly. He appeared to be a normal human boy aside from his hands that were stained a tar black, his fingertips nothing but some ragged tips of flesh that were mottled with dried blood. He also had severe memory problems about his past, remembering few memories from before the Underground. He also had to be constantly reminded about simple things like what they did yesterday in free time, people’s names and even what they had eaten for breakfast just mere hours after they had eaten it. It scared Ranboo slightly if he was being honest but Michael and Kace always reassured him, saying that it was just a simple illness and it didn’t matter that much.

Ranboo had been at the facility since he was seven, brought by the tall men with those grey suites that matched all the adult’s clothes, the same bland grey colour. Ranboo was the most inhuman looking out of the trio, with deep purple eyes that looked like they were red and glowed softly in the dark. His pale skin also had small patches of black coating of glossy scales. He couldn’t remember a lot from before the white corridors of the Underground, only a faint warmth of his mother’s arms before he had been taken from them.

Michael jabbed the younger boy’s side, “Hey princess I get that whatever dreamland you’re in is almost definitely better than this nether spawn, but I would like to get some toast before Mama comes and puts us to work today.”

They all lined up in the queue for food chatting absently about random topics, from food to chores, to what superpower they would have in those comic books for the toddlers to water, how they got to that topic Ranboo didn’t even know.

Eventually another shrill bell rang in the facility and the trio exchanged goodbyes and went their separate ways.

* * *

Ranboo fidgeted in the uncomfortable chair he had been placed in, playing with his thumbs absently as he waited for the doctor to come and start examining him.

He swung his short legs up and down as he stared at the blank stone walls examining ever crack and dip in the wall and resisted the urge to get off the chair and start wondering around the elaborate series of corridors outside of the door off to his far right.

After what seemed to be hours, but was probably only ten minutes, the door opened and a woman with blond hair that was tied in a tight knot at the back of her head, looking down at the child on the chair as if he had single handily slaughtered her entire family.

Yeah, Ranboo thought, I don’t like her.

The woman shifted through a few papers for a few minutes before speaking “Your number 135, right.”

Ranboo simply nodded, clutching a burn mark on his arm that showed those said numbers, forever etched into his skin in a bold font.

The woman hummed, picking a paper out from the pile and setting it apart from the stack. “Good.” She looked up at Ranboo and smiled, the smile stretching her face in such an unnatural way causing Ranboo to shift in his seat uneasily.

“Well, it appears that you’re in good enough health, not too skinny, not too fat. I believe you’re ready to start going through the big boy check-ups.”

Ranboo perked up at that, he was old enough to not be considered a child. Mike and Kace will finally stop calling him a child all the time!

The woman chuckled at the boy’s response. “you’re very happy about that news then, aren’t you?”

He nodded, his eyes shining. He was sent out of the room shortly after and had bumped into Kace doing the laundry, excitedly telling her that he was now a big boy and that her and Michael could no longer call him a child as he was about to go through the same stuff Mike does.

However, when Kace heard the news she didn’t share the same excitement Ranboo did. Instead, her face morphed into an emotion Ranboo couldn’t recognise. She only looked like that after Mike came from those tournaments or a child was screaming in agony from the hits Mama gave them for disobeying her orders.

Her face quickly filtered back into one of faked excitement for the boy, who convinced himself that her first reaction had just been his imagination.

* * *

Ranboo decided he did not like the big boy check-ups.

They involved him being strapped to a chair, unable to move his arms or legs until one of the doctors who wore funny bits of fabric around their mouths in a way Ranboo had never seen before. Masks his mind supplied for him, these people wore masks.

There was an assortment of sharp objects on a tray of to his left that Ranboo hoped they wouldn’t use. Two of the masked figures spoke in hushed tones, a language the young boy couldn’t recognise. The third approached the boy, grabbing a scalpel of the tray before turning to the trapped boy.

Ranboo started to shake slightly, eyeing the sharp object in the figures hand with narrowed eyes.

“Let’s see what’s inside an enderman hybrid boys.”

The man had spoken and started to cut with intense precision through Ranboo’s pale skin, crimson dripping out of the cut. Ranboo screamed in agony as they continued making those precise cuts deep into the boy’s arm, gathering samples of the boy’s blood or even just slicing through layers of delicate skin completely.

They cut through his flesh and sinews of muscles easily, examining it thoroughly whilst the boy struggled in his chains, tears streaming down his face as he wailed. More then once they had slapped him in an attempt to stop his futile struggles and cries before they eventually opted to shove a dirty rag in his mouth to muffle his screams.

He continued to weep as they tore through his skin to examine him like an animal or plant specimen, choking on his muffled cries.

He didn’t like this, no he hated this. He hated this more than the slop they called porridge every Tuesday, he hated this more than those suites that took him away from his mum, he hated this more then Mama and her slaps that would leave a bruise for days, he even hated this more then being locked in his room for days on end where he couldn’t talk to anyone and was given no food and the bare minimum of water.

He hated this, he hated this, HE HATED THIS!

He wanted Mike and Kace here.

And then he felt his body slump forward, his world falling into dark shadows that were infinitely more welcoming than the sterile lights of the Underground.

* * *

Ranboo tossed and turned in the thin sheets on his cot, restless once again. Sleep had become more and more rare over the years, nightmares often plaguing the rare moments he managed to get some shut eye.

Right now, was not one of those rare moments.

Michael who was equally restless that night noticed the youngers agitation softly tip toed over towards Ranboo’s cot and gently shook the boy to get his attention.

“Hey kiddo.” He whispered, rocking on the balls of his feet “I know your awake, wanna go somewhere kid. It might help you burn off some of that energy.”

Ranboo turned over, facing Michael in the dark room. “Where are we going? You do remember that we’re not allowed out of our rooms after eight.”

Michael just rolled his eyes, huffing at the younger boy’s statement.

“Do you really think I care about the rules Ranboo.”

The younger boy thought for a moment before shaking his head slightly, swinging his legs around the wire frame of his cot.

As soon as his feet touched the stone floor Michael grabbed his wrist and sprinted softly through the white painted walls, the feet pattering lightly through the halls filled with a dim white glow.

Eventually the reached an unfamiliar series of corridors, the rooms leading into unknown rooms filled with who knows what.

After a few more minutes of light sprinting, the two boys had reached another door, a wooden bolt securing the door shut.

Michael pushed the bolt up and the iron door swung open, the hinges not making a single noise, and walked right into a field. Well, it wasn’t exactly a field, fields were up on the Surface not down here in an underground facility.

Ranboo bent down to touch a few blades of grass, suppressing a childish urge to run through the fields and roll around, but the grassy fields were indeed real. He looked around and saw a lone tree, white lights falling in a broken pattern around its leaves. Ranboo started his way over towards the tree, his bare feet treading over the soft grass with the utter most care, as if one false move and he would wake back up in his cold cot back in the dorm. But that never happened, and the younger boy treaded over the to the tree, running his hand against the rough, weathered bark.

Ranboo didn’t know how Michael knew of this place but he wasn’t going to question it for the meanwhile, instead opting to lie down under the canopy of a tree, its branches hanging down almost touching the grassy surface on several occasions. Michael joined him under the tree, sitting with his back against the twisted trunk as he fiddled with a few blades of grass, entwining a few daisies into the crown (Ranboo assumed it was a crown Michael was making) with practiced ease.

Ranboo wondered if Michael ever made flower crowns with his siblings he had mentioned on a few rare instances, back on his time on the Surface, before he was forced to come down to the underground facility that they now lived.

Michael looked up to where the sky was supposed to be, instead being greeted by electric LEDS that lined the ceiling, a dark indigo mimicking the night sky. Michael grinned up at the dark ceiling, a few white splotches imitating stars.

“You know Ranboo? I remember my sister reading once that some stars we see died many years ago. So, when you’re looking at the sky you would practically be looking in the past, like time travel!” Michael grinned up at the fake sky, his hands tying the knot to the flower crown he had made, “Can you imagine going there and asking one of them how to time travel. We would be able to change anything in the past, anything! Even the bad things!”

Ranboo stayed quiet for a moment, thinking of a response to the older boys thought “Michael…that is possibly the dumbest thing I have ever heard from you.”

“I know. I know, it doesn’t make any sense” the older boy turned back around, laughing slightly, looking up at the sky again. “But- “

“But I wish it was possible.” Ranboo whispered faintly. Michael whipped his head around to face Ranboo, so quickly he feared Michael might break his neck, his eyes shining faintly. In fact, all of Michaels body seemed to be glowing faintly, a white hue surrounding him like he was an angelic being.

“Oh yeah? There’s something you wanna change Ranboo?” He prompted.

“A lot of things actually, but mainly I wanna be free from this place you know, live a normal life outside of the walls.”

Michael hummed in agreement, his brown locks swaying in the wind, “I get you kiddo.”

The two boys stayed under the false stars, sharing stories of their past lives on the surface until they fell asleep with nothing but each other for comfort.

* * *

“You two are such idiots going to the Garden.” Kace backhanded them both, her features contorted into a sharp scowl. Michael rubbed his head, complaining about woman and how they were always so physical with him and how much he hated woman. That earned him another hit.

Ranboo giggled at his friend’s antics, laughing even harder when Michael pretended to be knocked out from one of Kace’s playful hits which caused her to full on start mothering him, her panicking around the corridor as Michael winked at him from behind Kace’s back.

He could get used to this; his friend’s antics, his siblings pestering him to read from one of the many fairy tales they had, even the check-ups he would be having once every two weeks now and the grey slop that Mama insisted was called porridge that always made him, and the other children feel sick.

**Author's Note:**

> Where to start where to start. I had this idea for three days and I'm still not fully happy with this but by this point I'm beyond caring I just want to go to sleep. This fic is heavily inspired by The Promised Netherland and the Overhaul Arc in BHNA combined with a theory on discord I saw and then I just mashed it with the Deity AU so this is going to a one hell of a roller-coaster ride.  
> If any of your have questions or theories of my ocs Michael and Kace who are going to be a big part of this fic please leave them down below I'd love to read/answer them.  
> And yes this is apart of my Deity AU so Dream and Phil are going to be making an appearance near the end of the fic briefly :)
> 
> Socials:  
> Instagram: Lalalaloo51  
> Tumblr: Lalalaloo56
> 
> As always thank you so much for all the kind comments and stay classy people.


End file.
